Kotallo, Zo and Erend stared up at the large gates they faced and wondered if anyone was coming at all.
“You think they really sent a runner to ask a High Matriarch if we are allowed in?” Zo asked quietly.
“The Nora have suffered badly from outsiders,” Erend admitted, “so I don’t doubt that they’d be wary…but they’re not unreasonable…well, some of them aren’t.”
“Aloy said one of the Matriarchs was kind towards her.”
“High Matriarch Teersa,” Erend waved his hand, “she’s got grandchildren and great grandchildren I think.”
“That’s their hierarchical system?” Kotallo asked in disbelief.
“Matriarchal,” Erend corrected, “the women are deeply respected. It’s got to do with the Cradle facility which they call the womb of the mountain.”
“And only mothers give birth.” Zo said quietly, her hand on her abdomen. She wasn’t showing yet, at least not from beneath her comfortable Utaru clothing but soon her belly would begin to swell, the presence of a baby undeniable.
“It’s also why Aloy was outcast,” Erend cleared his throat, “because she didn’t have a mother. She just appeared.”
“That gave them no right to outcast her.” Kotallo said protectively.
“Yeah but if she hadn’t been, her guardian wouldn’t have taught her to be the warrior she is, she mightn’t have gone near the ruins and found her FOCUS…”
“Knowing Aloy, she would have found a way.” Zo murmured then lifted her head. “I hear footsteps.”
Kotallo nodded, picking up the soft soled runner only a few seconds after her. A moment later a Nora runner appeared at the top of the wall.
“You have been given permission to enter,” they stood up and went towards their mounts, “but you must leave your machines behind.”
Kotallo nodded, removing his swag and belongings and slinging them on his back. The others did the same and when they’d moved away from their Striders, the gates opened. They looked relatively new but there were scorch marks on the stone and wall. He suspected the original gates had burned in the Shadow Carja siege.
Three Nora warriors appeared, each one scarred in some way but bearing their blue paint boldly, spears in hand.
“We will escort you to Mother’s Heart.” The first brave told them.
They followed the braves into the Embrace, the gates closing behind them. Kotallo felt himself tense, anticipating an attack to remove their weapons but the Nora, though suspicious of them, only led them down a hill, expecting them to follow.
“This is the Embrace?” Zo asked softly, red and yellow leaves fluttering by, plucked by the breeze from the nearby trees. “It’s beautiful. Not like Plainsong or the Daunt…”
“It’s like nowhere else.” Erend admitted, his footsteps heavily treading on the ground.
Zo squatted and scooped up earth in her hand, crumbling it between her fingers. “It’s rich enough to support a harvest…I wonder if the Nora ever till their land.”
“I feel like that might be sacrilegious towards the Embrace.” Erend called back over his shoulder. “We’ve got to keep up. These Nora are fast.”
Zo stood up, groaning softly. Kotallo noticed her effort and grasped her swag.
“I can carry my own weight, thank you.” She said defensively.
“You are exhausted,” Kotallo said without room for argument, “you were up half the night.”
Zo’s face paled. “I…I don’t what was in that stew we had at Mother’s Crown but I felt so sick…”
“Look after your baby and we’ll look after you.” Kotallo slung her swag on her back and Zo let him. He caught sight of another look from Erend and made a mental note to ask him about his confusion later.
They followed the braves along the road, spying a herd of Striders being guarded by Watchers off to one side. They slipped around a large boulder rather than deal with them then walked across a wooden bridge, heading right when they reached an intersection. It was still all uphill but the braves never slowed, keeping up their brisk pace. Erend was puffing heavily, Zo was trying to hide it but even she was struggling to keep up and Kotallo’s practiced mask of control was the only thing that didn’t expose his own breathlessness.
They reached a bridge at the northern end of the Embrace which led across a chasm to a wall made of thick tree branches and a gate that was shut.
“Is this,” Zo puffed, “where the cradle…facility…is?”
Erend shook his head. “No, that’s…somewhere over there…” He waved vaguely behind them and to the left. “This is…Mother’s…Heart…main…settlement…”
Kotallo eyed the gates and wall. “It does not seem as heavily damaged as the Embrace gates.”
“That’s because…phew…that was a hike.” Erend laughed and stood up, stretching out his stitch. “That’s because when the Shadow Carja machines broke through, the matriarchs ordered all Nora to the mountain. This place,” he jerked his head towards the settlement they were approaching, “is all open and the buildings are made of wood.”
“You’ve been here before?”
“Yeah…not even a year ago.” Erend shook his head. “Feels like ten years. Wasn’t sure they’d let us in then either…” He looked up at the shut gates. “Still not sure they’ll…oh…never mind.”
The gates opened and two more braves appeared, escorting an elderly woman with long grey dreadlocks, adorned with wooden beads and dressed in thick, warm leathers and fur. Kotallo struggled not to stare. Almost no Tenakth ever became as old as this woman was. His tribe was renowned for fighting well and dying young.
“Welcome those who come in the name of Aloy, the Anointed,” she opened her arms to them, “I am High Matriarch Teersa.”
“High Matriarch, I don’t know if you remember…”
“Erend the Oseram,” she said, her voice as weathered as her expression yet her wrinkles came more from smiling than from grief, “I remember you came with the Carja envoy to offer peace.”
“I was here when the Shadow Carja attacked the Proving…” Erend swallowed. “I…I don’t know if I ever said how sorry I was for the young lives lost…”
“It was not your doing,” Teersa insisted, “they came to stop Aloy but not metal, fire or the dark souls of men could prevent her from achieving her destiny.”
Erend bowed then turned to Zo. “This is Zo of the Utaru Tribe.”
“Welcome Zo,” Teersa greeted, “I am afraid I’ve never heard of your tribe.”
“It’s west, beyond the Sundom.” Zo offered.
“You have travelled a long way to be here.”
“Kotallo even more so,” Zo gestured to him, “he is of the Tenakth tribe.”
Kotallo bowed deeply, catching a sparkle of appreciation in Teersa’s eyes. “You’re quite the formidable warrior I suspect, Kotallo.”
“He’s terrifying,” Erend chuckled then sobered after Zo jabbed him in the ribs, “uh…but of course we come in peace and in Aloy’s name with a message on her behalf.”
“We’re eager to learn of our tribe’s saviour.” Teersa waved them in. “Please come. We will go to the Matriarch’s lodge where food and drink are being prepared.”
“That’s very kind of you.” Zo thanked her.
“We may be resistant to outsiders,” Teersa chuckled, “but when we’ve let down our guard, we’re really quite hospitable.”
Mother’s Heart was a large settlement with paths winding between houses and around campfires. Everything was made from wood, branches and trunks lashed together to form buildings and homes. Many buildings still displayed charred beams and there were two structures that were just charred remains. Men and women, children with wooden swords and woven toys in their hands, stopped and stared at them.
“Forgive them. They’re wary of strangers.”
“After what you’ve endured, it’s understandable.” Zo insisted.
“The lodge of the Matriarchs is up here.” Teersa laughed softly as she paused to rest. “I swear the roads are getting steeper the older I become.”
They waited patiently for her to catch her breath then set a slower pace to the lodge which was larger and more elaborately decorated than any of the other buildings. It was set back beneath a rocky overhang which Kotallo suspected had protected it from the machine weapon fire. Very little damage could be seen at all.
“Please, come inside and rest yourselves.” She urged, leading them into the warm lodge.
There was a place at the back with three chairs where two other elderly women sat, speaking in hushed tones across the empty middle chair. Sitting on less elaborate chairs were half a dozen women, three on either side. Before the High Matriarchs was a low, long table where food was being laid out by young women who served quickly then stepped back respectfully, hands clasped together.
“Please…sit,” Teersa gestured to three cushions on the other side of the table, “and allow me to introduce ourselves. As you know, I am Teersa,” she gestured to the far right chair, “this is Jezza and this,” she pointed to the woman on the left, “is Lansra. We are all High Matriarchs.”
“Teersa,” Jezza said softly, “are you sure these three come with the Anointed’s confidence and not just bearing her name?”
“This is Erend, the Oseram who was here the night before the Proving when our young braves were attacked by the Shadow Carja,” Teersa said, taking her place in the middle chair as Erend, Zo and Kotallo sat on the cushions, “and War Chief Sona spoke of his strength of arm in the fight at the Spire in Meridian.”
Understandably Zo looked to where Teersa nodded and saw a woman with Varl’s high brow and full lips. But where his eyes were friendly and bright, hers were as hard as a spear tip. Kotallo heard Zo swallow.
“War Chief Sona,” Erend looked like he was going to offer his hand to her then decided against it, suspecting it would be rejected, “It’s good to see you.”
Her eyes were dark. “Where is my son?” She said rather than greet him.
Erend faltered. “I…”
“War Chief Sona,” Zo stood, putting her hand on Erend’s shoulder, “my name is Zo and I am of the Utaru tribe. I…it is with regret that I have come here to tell you that Varl died…a month ago.”
Kotallo watched Sona. Her expression was like stone but he caught sight of a muscle twitch in her cheek, the only display of emotion she gave.
“Did he die with honour?” She asked between gritted teeth.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Yes,” Zo nodded, “honourably, bravely…in defence of Aloy and of the hope for the future of the Nora. And I…” Her words faltered and rather than speak, she sat down. Very little unsettled the tenacious Utaru warrior but Kotallo could see Zo was unsure what to say or if this was the right time and place.
“Erend also comes with Kotallo of the Tenakth tribe,” Teersa explained, “and they have a message from the Anointed.”
“Then we will hear it.” Jezza nodded and Lansra agreed.
Erend took the ember, a round projection device, from his swag and looked around. “This kind of works best if it’s dark.” He said and a moment later, the door was closed and the lodge was illuminated by candlelight alone. He set the ember on the table. “Okay…here we go…”
He activated it and the captured full sized image of Aloy was projected from the ball so that it appeared that she was standing on the table.
The Matriarchs gasped and threw themselves down. “Aloy the Anointed!”
“This is old world witchcraft and sorcery!” Sona snarled.
“Look away from its light!” Lansra cried and the lodge was about to descend into chaos.
Kotallo stood up. “Silence!” He roared and the women halted at the strength of his voice. “What you see is a memory of Aloy, a message she has brought to you. Do not cower on the ground or grovel in its presence.”
He probably spoke a little forcefully, given that he was a guest but the Nora, having shunned anything to do with the old ones and considered any association with it strictly taboo, were terrified of it…and they feared very little.
“It is a seed of the enemy…” Lansra hissed.
“It is a means of communication,” Zo insisted, “like your signal fires only this one recorded Aloy and speaks her message in her voice.”
“Then why did she not come herself?” Jezza asked, the High Matriarchs too elderly to cower on the ground before the projection.
“Please, just listen.” Zo begged. “The Nora need to know what she knows.”
The High Matriarchs looked at each other. After a long moment, Teersa nodded.
“Very well…”
Erend breathed out and touched the ember, Aloy’s image going from static and still to alive.
“My name is Aloy and if you will listen, I have an extraordinary story to tell that is not just about what happened in our past but will impact our future.” She looked around as if gazing at each of them but Kotallo knew the recording had been completed in the control room of the base where Gaia resided. “A thousand years ago, a plague of machines devoured the earth and left it lifeless and dead. Some of the humans fled the earth on a ship bound for the stars while the rest stayed and fought to give time for hope to be sown. This hope was a seed of life that sprouted when the machines ran out of things to eat and went to sleep. This seed was governed by a mother figure called Gaia who nurtured the earth back to life, using parts of herself to do different things like build machines to purify the air and water, till the soil and finally, for a saved generation of humans to be born. And for a time, we were at peace…but then a being called Nemesis, created by the humans who fled to the stars, attacked Gaia and turned those parts of herself created for peace into erratic and dangerous individuals. Machines that existed for our benefit became aggressive and dangerous in the time known as the derangement.
And the most dangerous one of them all, HADES, tried to use the Spire at Meridian, the very construct that had been used to put the ancient machines to sleep, to wake them once more and end all life on earth.
Some of you who hear this message were there and know that we defeated HADES.
Though this victory was important, it only delayed the downward spiral of the earth. As the machines became more and more uncontrollable, the ground began to become poisonous, storms raged and hunter killer machines were designed and released. With the help and the sacrifice of those who pledged themselves to the future of humanity, we were able to restore parts of Gaia to herself so that she could pull the earth back from the brink of oblivion…but it’s not over yet.
The being called Nemesis is on its way here…and it’s malevolent and compassionless.
It wants to eradicate all life…but I intend to stop it.
But I can’t do it alone.”
Kotallo gazed up at her projection, glad everyone’s eyes were locked onto her message so he could gaze at her adoringly. Then he closed his eyes and sighed, remembering that he’d come to the Embrace to try to distance himself from Aloy and here he was almost drooling over her.
As quietly and discreetly as he could he ducked his head and left the lodge, slipping out into the cold, bright air. He walked over the stone and snow, breathing in and out until he felt his emotions subside and his control reasserted itself.
“Uh…are you a friend of Aloy’s?” He turned towards the speaker, a man possibly as old as Kotallo, his long fingers twitching nervously. He didn’t have the mark of a brave but was dressed as a Nora so Kotallo guessed he was in trade rather than becoming a warrior.
Kotallo looked around. None of the other Nora had approached him though he saw several standing in small groups, eyeing him suspiciously. This young man, though not a fighter, was clearly not a coward.
“It’s just…the braves that escorted you here, they said…”
“I am a friend of Aloy’s.” Kotallo confirmed.
“Oh,” he nodded, “and…she’s alright?”
“The last time I saw her,” stoic and resolved but alright, “but that was a week ago.”
“I see,” he nodded again, “well…”
“And you are?”
“Teb.” Teb held out his hand and Kotallo grasped it. “I’m probably the first person Aloy ever saved and since then…”
“At the Proving?”
“No, no…when she was a child.” Teb laughed awkwardly. “I fell from trying to run the brave trail and was about to be crushed by machines when this bold, red headed little girl comes out of the grasses and orders me to follow her.” Kotallo tried not to laugh. That sounded just like Aloy. Teb eyed Kotallo. “You’re…not Carja, not Oseram or Banuk…”
“Tenakth.”
“I’ve not heard of you before.” Teb frowned. “Are you not cold? Your clothing doesn’t seem all that…”
“I grew up in the Sheerside Mountains where your winter was my summer.” Kotallo replied bluntly and Teb nodded. “But yes, I feel the cold.”
“Well, if you need any clothing, find my stall. I’m just down there.” He pointed. “I’m a stitcher for the tribe. I can even make boots…” He looked at Kotallo’s boots which had seen better days. “I’ve got a pair that might fit you.”
Kotallo was going to refuse then decided to go with him and view the boots. Teb’s stall was very well stocked and Kotallo eyed the stitch work, impressed with the level of detail.
“I don’t think you were meant to be a warrior, not with your skill with leather and thread.” He remarked.
“I don’t have the same drive and spirit as the braves,” Teb opened a chest and drew a pair of boots out, “but my stitching skill came in handy sewing the braves back together after the machines attacked and at the Spire.”
“With a hand like this, you would not leave a scar worthy of a story.” Kotallo sat on a stool and pulled his boots off. The moment his feet sank into Teb’s footwear, he wanted to sigh, his feet supported but oh so comfortably.
“They’re higher than your old boots but I think you’ll find they’re more flexible,” Teb explained, showing the laces on the side that secured the boots around Kotallo’s calves, “and the Tenakth decoration of your boots can be removed and attached to these so that you don’t lose your tribe’s uniqueness.”
Kotallo nodded. “These are excellent quality. I have some shards but I am not sure they are enough to count against their value.”
“I would have given them away if you had of said you were skint.” Teb chuckled, taking the shards Kotallo offered. “We owe Aloy so much and I wish there was something more I could do…”
Kotallo spied Erend and Zo coming towards the stall, their FOCUSES having picked up his presence in Mother’s Heart.
“There may yet be something,” he said, standing as they approached, “over already?”
“Well…there was a bit of a hullabaloo after the recording finished. Words like ‘anointed’ and ‘blasphemy’ tossed around, accusations of tainting them with the sins of the old ones…” Erend waved his hand. “Teersa asked us to leave so that she could inject some calm and get them to talk it over…and I didn’t get anything to eat.”
“Kotallo, are those new boots?” Zo eyed them. “They look very comfortable.”
Kotallo introduced her to Teb and Zo immediately tried on a pair that he had, her look of relief telling her that he hadn’t overestimated their level of comfort. She bought them promptly, her Utaru footwear not made for such frigid temperatures.
“I’ll pass, thanks.” Erend laughed. “Oseram footwear can’t fall apart.”
“That’s because it’s made of metal and spit.” Zo teased.
“And Oseram grit.” Erend beamed.
“So what do we do now?”
“Wait for the matriarchs to deliberate I guess.” Erend looked at Teb. “Anywhere we can get a drink around here?”
“And something to eat other than meat?”
Teb chuckled. “Sure, follow me.”
At a campfire near the lodge they filled their bellies and warmed their hands. Kotallo looked at Erend and Zo.
“If the Nora refuse to listen, what do we do?”
“Respect their wishes I guess.” Erend gulped his ale.
“And let the Nora go undefended and unrepresented?” Zo demanded.
“Hey, I’m not saying it’s ideal but if they say no, what choice do we have?”
“We go to the outcasts, to the other settlements…we take this message to anyone who will hear it.” Zo said fiercely.
“You mean we go over the top of the authority of the matriarchs?”
“If we have to.”
“Come on Zo,” Erend wiped his mouth with his yellow and white sleeve, “that’s disrespectful and you know it.”
“Erend is right,” Kotallo urged, “a foundation of offence and deception is no way to start a new world. The Nora would always stand apart from it and remain lost.”
Zo folded her arms, her expression stony. “If I had obeyed the dictates of Plainsong, I never would have gone into the repair bay of the landgods, I never would have listened to Aloy’s explanations or met Varl…” Her voice cracked and she looked away.
Kotallo saw Erend’s look and shook his head. The Oseram heeded his silent advice and left Zo alone. Zo’s anger was masking grief and fear. The sooner she could talk to Sona, the better.
Dusk was falling and they were starting to talk about where they would camp if not offered anywhere to sleep when the matriarch lodge door opened and a young woman announced that they were ready to be received. Kotallo, Zo and Erend entered the lodge and remained standing in front of the chairs of the High Matriarchs.
Teersa seemed to be the appointed voice of the Nora as she stood and faced them.
“We have considered your words and the message you have brought. They caused considerable distress and consternation amongst the matriarchs.” There was a light hiss of disapproval. “To the Nora, the ruins of the old ones are tainted with the evils that caused their destruction.” Kotallo heard someone’s teeth grind together, possibly Erend. He understood his frustration but held silent. “To accept this knowledge would be to uproot the beliefs and traditions of the Nora and cause our tribe to descend into chaos,” Teersa said sadly, “and that is something we cannot do.”
“But you can’t just ignore it!” Zo cried. “Aloy herself is asking for your help.”
“And because the Anointed has done so, we offer this compromise,” Teersa nodded, “that we will call for volunteers to aid Aloy, who will be marked as Death Seekers.”
“What’s a Death Seeker?” Kotallo asked, thinking it sounded like a Tenakth title and not a Nora one.
“A Nora tribesman whose soul is committed to the Embrace but whose body may travel beyond the Sacred Land to do what is necessary,” Teersa explained, “but the consequences of such a mark means those that bear it cannot return to the Embrace.”
Erend gave a derogatory grunt and shook his head.
“You would cast out those who volunteer to save your lives and protect your future?” Zo asked, stunned.
“What about Aloy?” Kotallo asked. “She has returned to the Embrace.”
“Aloy was made a Seeker, allowed to come and go.”
“Why can’t you make the volunteers, Seekers?”
“Because of the doctrine that you propose which contradicts our beliefs.” Jezza leaned forward. “We cannot allow Seekers to return and spread this heresy amongst the Nora. If they leave the Embrace and the Sacred Lands…they need to know the cost of the choice.”
“And in doing so,” Teersa held up her hand before Erend could protest, “you will also know that those who volunteer do so wholeheartedly and without reserve.”
Kotallo looked at Zo and Erend, his eyes sharp and firm. Erend huffed and looked away. Zo sighed, resolved. “If that is the decision of the matriarchs…then we will abide by it.”
“We will send out a call to all Nora in the Embrace to attend the announcement tomorrow night,” Teersa added, “it is too late to make sure that all Nora have the chance to hear it should the bell ring out now. I hope you will accept our offer of a lodge to share for the duration of your stay here.”
“Thank you.” Kotallo could see that the others were at the end of their patience and tolerance. “We accept.”
Teersa smiled a little sadly at him and he suspected she was more sympathetic to their plight than she was letting on. With the decision made, the matriarchs were dismissed and the doors opened, the women leaving the lodge quickly and quietly. Zo could see War Chief Sona staring at her. Kotallo put his hand on her shoulder and nodded.
“Yes, it’s now…” Zo approached the austere woman. “War Chief Sona…your son…”
“Is gone,” Sona said gruffly, “lost in a tainted land far from the Embrace of his birth.”
Zo licked her lips. “He is buried on a rise that faces east…with the yellow blooms planted by his grave that his sister, Vala, bound to her spear.”
“You were close to my son?” Sona’s question was less inquiring and more of a dangerous statement.
Kotallo felt Erend begin to step forward and grasped his arm, holding him back.
Zo swallowed. “I was…I still am.” She put her hands on her abdomen. “I carry his seed…a child of Varl and myself will be born this coming summer.”
The muscle twitched in Sona’s cheek again and she turned her head away.
“That Varl dishonoured himself by associating with heathens beyond the Embrace…he should never have left.”
Zo brushed off Sona’s racial remarks and stepped forward, her stubbornness revealed. “If Varl had not done as he did, Aloy would have died on a riverbank, alone and the hope of this world would have perished with her. Instead he brought her to my people who healed her wounds and who showed her the place where she could reawaken Gaia.”
“All of which I could have forgiven,” Sona’s voice was brittle and angry, “but to have stained himself by embedding his seed into you instead of a Nora so that my family would continue…”
“But it will continue!” Zo exclaimed. “Sona, I want this baby to know of its Nora heritage! It was important to Varl!”
“Not enough that he restrained himself from throwing himself upon you in lust, a woman not of the Nora…a heathen…a shameless flirt…”
“Now that’s enough!” Erend snapped, yanking himself from Kotallo’s grasp. “I won’t hear anymore of this!”
“Erend, it’s alright…” Zo said even though Kotallo could see she was upset and shaking.
“No, it’s not alright.” Erend put his hand out as if to protect her, glaring at Sona. “Do you have any idea the courage it took for Zo to make this journey? To cross the Sundom and enter a land she’s only ever heard about in fairy tales to children? But she did it, not because of Aloy’s message but because she wanted you to know about your son…and how much she loved him.”
“Love…”
“Yes, love!” Erend barked and Kotallo saw Sona flinch. “She didn’t want you to be ignorant that you will be a grandmother. Zo knew you already lost both your children and your husband. But this,” he gestured to Zo’s belly, “isn’t just Zo and Varl’s baby. It’s your legacy…your grandchild. Isn’t being a grandparent important to you? Isn’t knowing that the valiant and tenacious nature of your son will carry on worth even the smallest splinter of space in your heart?”
Sona lifted her child. “No.” She said and walked out of the lodge.
Erend breathed heavily, shaking his head. “I…I’m sorry Zo. I couldn’t let her talk to you like that and I know I spoke out of turn…”
“Erend,” she touched his face and smile, “thank you.”
He put his big Oseram hand over her lithe fingers and gave them a squeeze, sniffing away his emotion. Kotallo watched their tender understanding and felt his heart ache.
He missed Aloy so much.